Training as a carpenter/joiner in Germany

Hi all, I am looking at retraining to do a job which has always appealed to me, namely as a carpenter/joiner. I have considered going back to England to do this (training), but that would basically mean leaving Berlin behind and all that entails. So are there any English speakers out there who have done similar training in Germany? Could you shed some light on what I would need in terms of language skills, basic qualifications etc?

Thanks.

Try here

http://www.bdz-holzbau.de/ausbildung.php

Thanks Steven

I started an apprenticeship as a cabinetmaker in Canada although I sadly did not finish it but I have looked into picking it up here. My friends uncle runs a cabinetshop and he offered me a tischler apprenticeship. The only problem is that it takes about 3 years and during this time, you are making like 4-500€ a month. I basically decided that I could not afford this. My friends boss offered me a placement as a holztechniker apprentice which takes 2 years and you make 5-600€ a month and I kind of decided I could possible afford that if I clean out my savings account but it's not really a recognized trade so what's the point. My advisor at the Arbeitsamt said that I would not enjoy apprenticeship sitting in school with 16-17 yo. kids and said that I should try to get a position as a helper and work for a few years and then challenge the test.

Whatever you do, if you are going to do a proper apprenticeship, you will definitely need German. You will need to know all the trade lingo too. Apprentices here spend a couple of days in school every week so it's not just on the job training.

I am currently doing this myself. But not as a carpenter, I am in my ausbildung for KFZ-Mechatroniker basically meaning auto mechanic and auto electrician. I have what is known as blockunterricht, meaning I work two weeks in the garage and then one week I have school. I will tell you this I do relatively well school wise, sitting at the top of my class. But thats because I know German and was pretty much a self taught mechanic already. As LeonG said, yes the money is horrible during this time, I have pretty much wiped out my savings trying to survive with my small monthly paycheck. Definitely tough to own a car and do your ausbildung at the same time. The other thing is I don't know how old you are, but I am 26 and one of the oldest in my class, most are between 18 to 21 in my class. So do be prepared to be around younger kids. If you have any questions you can send me an PM at anytime.

The way the school system works, kids are steered into different schools very early on and the kids that come from a school where they are graduating after 10th grade may not have the option to go any further academically so they look for apprenticeship. Also because of the low wages, it's so much better to do when you are still living at your parents so yeah, most of the apprentices will be very young. Some of my German coworkers back in Canada said they believed that you would not even get the chance to apprentice in Germany after you reach the ripe old age of 25 or so. They were very surprised to see apprentices in Canada in their 40's and even 50's. I am nearing 40 but I may just have been offered it because I knew the people.

My friend's son wanted to do this - it was the one thing that he was most interested in. The problem was that he couldn't find anywhere to get an apprenticeship and he tried all through Germany, sent out hundreds of CVs. He was taken on in one place temporarily with two others, then after a few weeks they "weeded" out two to keep one. (I thought that was odd too).

My friend told me that most master carpenters would only take on one apprentice, then the apprenticeship is ?3-4yrs. Apparently by the time the time came to "find" a new apprentice there would already be one waiting, a family member or friend/of a friend/son etc. So at least when he was searching, places were rarer than hen's teeth.

My sister-in-law did manage to find an apprenticeship but no work when she completed the apprenticeship and passed the exams. But that was more to do with sexism than lack of jobs.

I know the cabinetmaking world better than the carpentry world and for what I know, there's not a lot of work and quite possible to end up without a job after apprenticeship. That is why many of these guys go to Canada to work, even temporarily, then can come back having a bit of an edge on the competition because they have that experience and speak a little more English. It seems like most of the guys I knew in Canada who went back are not working in cabinetmaking here, they are working in marketing or project managing or gone back to school or something like that.

I met two of the traveling carpenters about a month ago. They told me they were actually cabinetmakers but no work in that but better to find work in housebuilding. I am talking about the ones in the black clothes that walk around for 3 years and work in different places, see http://www.abss-shop.de/grafik-seo/Zunft-abss.jpg

You can also get zeitarbeit once you have a trade if you can't find work but it's lower paid than having a real job and you may get moved around a lot.

If your any good already as a carpenter but have no formal qualifications you can return to the uk to work for a while where the CITB (construction industry training board) can send ascessers out on site to watch you work and build up a portfolio that they give to the CITB.Questionaires are also filled out on your trade to fill this portfolio.This scheme was set up to give people like me who trained under Thatchers YTS scheme but had no formal qualifications.We can get an NVQ level 2 or 3 on our "Grandfather rights".This process takes about 6 months.Im currently finding out about getting them translated into the german equivalent.It could be an option.The depertment of trade and industry used to translate stuff like this.You could then take the translation to the gewebeamt an obtain a "miester" card.Ryanair fly enough and cheap to berlin,you get paid while you get your qualifications.

don't know if you are still looking but...i did that, im an american that went through the whole thing and am now a full fledged Zimmerman and it was exactly what i was looking for. And yes you will most certainly need to speak fluent german, but really if you live here you should really speak fluently anyway, not that im saying its easy but it makes everything more fun, and is in any case not any more difficult than living in a country whos language you dont fully understand. If you want to do it I can give you some leads although it looks pretty thin these days. Half the kids go through companies, (i did mine through the HochTief AG) and half go through the school itself( http://www.lehrbauhof-berlin.de)and get hooked up with different firms as they go. There is also a self contained school in Spandau that has the same program. Both school options are proly more likely to have a slot. I would recommend the one in spandau(http://www.knobelsdorff-schule.de/) though they are really hardass in the classroom. All in all it was good, get paid to learn, beats payin for the chance